Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it, follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.

Our rules have been updated and given their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!

I want to know where they found a pair of black "rappers" willing to be in this video.

Given all the stuff they added in post-production it wouldn't be hard to pitch it to a couple of desperate actors as a parody piece or an audition thing.

It's great because it's self-policing. If they try and come out and say they were misinformed they're still going to get painted as "The actors from that propaganda video" and they'll never get work.

Something similar happened to me. I got $50 to "audition" into the camera, reading a prepared speech saying that I was a concerned citizen opposed to such-and-such who ran the food bank in Totem Lake, WA where I've lived my whole life and there should be an investigation.

As much as conservatives yammer about it I've found the lower level of government you go to the worse the corruption is. The type of sit that's acceptable at the state level is so much worse that what goes on that the federal level.

I disagree. I think the most damaging sources of corruption we've seen in recent history have all been at the federal level. Off the top of my head:

SEC - Downloading tons of porn instead of regulating the financial industry. Refused to investigate people like Bernie Madoff and John Mack. Contributed to the financial meltdown in 2008.

MMS - Lack of oversight which could have prevented the spill in the Gulf Coast. Is currently being overhauled by Obama?

FDA - A top exec at Monsato submitted a paper on the use of BGH, then joins the FDA and approves the very paper she wrote. I believe BGH is banned in many European countries as researched has linked it to cancer in cows and humans.

DHS - The former head of DHS pushed for the implementation of full-body scanners at airports, and now runs a security consulting group that is a large manufacturer of such scanners.

I think it would do a lot to combat corruption if we moved things more to the model used by the DOT, where states do all of the planning and the majority of the supervision (FHWA oversight is required on projects above a certain size), but roughly 90% of the funding comes from the fed.

Eh, it's a little bit of both. Corruption is more rampant and more severe on the local level, but on the federal level, it causes a hell of a lot more damage.

I'm almost curious what bunk Limbaugh thinks has 'proved' global warming is a hoax over the past year. Almost.

I'd put money on the whole "those emails totally prove that it was all fake, because I don't want to understand the explanation and proof that it's just me misreading them out of context"

Or that 3 separate external investigations (that I know of), one requested by Jim "it's God, stupid!" Inhofe, completely absolved the University of East Anglia of any wrong doing. But then again, liberals!

As much as conservatives yammer about it I've found the lower level of government you go to the worse the corruption is. The type of sit that's acceptable at the state level is so much worse that what goes on that the federal level.

I disagree. I think the most damaging sources of corruption we've seen in recent history have all been at the federal level. Off the top of my head:

SEC - Downloading tons of porn instead of regulating the financial industry. Refused to investigate people like Bernie Madoff and John Mack. Contributed to the financial meltdown in 2008.

MMS - Lack of oversight which could have prevented the spill in the Gulf Coast. Is currently being overhauled by Obama?

FDA - A top exec at Monsato submitted a paper on the use of BGH, then joins the FDA and approves the very paper she wrote. I believe BGH is banned in many European countries as researched has linked it to cancer in cows and humans.

DHS - The former head of DHS pushed for the implementation of full-body scanners at airports, and now runs a security consulting group that is a large manufacturer of such scanners.

I think it would do a lot to combat corruption if we moved things more to the model used by the DOT, where states do all of the planning and the majority of the supervision (FHWA oversight is required on projects above a certain size), but roughly 90% of the funding comes from the fed.

Its more that you hear about federal corruption more. If its more "damaging" its because its important.

Here's the thing - let's say you're a talented, bright, educated person and you want to serve society in politics/government/civil service. Do you work for the federal government, servering the United States of America, or do you serve your local town, where its likely the position is part time and there's little in the way of advancement?

Local government is largely incompetent and amateurishly corrupt. Sheriff Joe is local government.
State government is more competently corrupt and might actually be a career path. This varies wildly from state to state - Alabama and Connecticut are going to have wildly different qualities of people running the state government. Governors Wallace, Barbour, and Palin are examples of Governors. Federal government is huge and so there's going to be corruption, but its where a vast majority of the competent wonks and administrators work.

State's Rights isn't an issue in this primary (to get back on track). No one cares about States Rights. Its always been a reference to federal interference in segregation, and more recently for gay rights and any other liberal concept. That's why during the debate when asked about a conservative issue such as gun regulation or gay marriage, its a federal matter when convenient.